Yesterday morning, first day back in Cusco, I had planned a long lie-in but my body has got used to the early mornings and I was awake by 5.30. Spent a bit of time finalising the Salkantay Trek blog before heading to breakfast, dropping off a bag of laundry at reception on the way. The hotel has a very reasonably priced same-day laundry service so I knew I would have it back by the evening.

After breakfast I headed out to have a wander around and check out some options for day trips over the next few days. I booked a half-day tour of Maras and Moray for today, and had a chat to a couple of agencies about day trips to Rainbow Mountain, Ausungate 7 Lakes and the Qeshwachaka Rope Bridge. But was hesitant about booking any of those as I hadn’t yet decided what to do about accommodation – although I had booked my flight back to Lima for 11 October, I had only booked my hotel room up until tomorrow morning (7th) as I’d wanted to keep my options open to possibly book another 3 or 4-day trek in the Ausungate range (which would include Rainbow Mountain, Red Valley and various lakes). And I was still vaguely thinking this may be a better option than doing multiple day trips.

I checked with a couple of agencies to see if they had any upcoming group departures I could join but no joy. I also was in two minds as to whether I could face 2 or 3 nights camping at high altitude – the camp sites on the Ausungate trek range from 4200m up to 4700m. And I was starting to feel slightly nauseous – after the last few days spent at lower altitudes, my body clearly wasn’t completely happy about being back in Cusco.

While mulling it over, I had a wander around San Pedro market, marvelling at the array of clothes, fruits, spices, flowers and other assorted goods on sale.

Outside on the street, Peruvian women also set up makeshift stalls flogging flowers, food and other items.

Feeling a bit hungry after all this, I headed to Cicciolina for lunch where I had this delicious trout and avocado salad washed down with a beetroot, carrot and ginger juice.

I then headed back to the hotel to check the expiry date on my ‘Boleto Touristico’ – a ticket that is required for entry to the various sites in the Sacred Valley, which is valid for 10 days and which I had bought when I visited Pisac last week, and which I would need to use for the visit to Moray. Seeing it was due to expire today I decided to rush out to get a collectivo to a couple of the smaller sites that I hadn’t yet visited, which are just outside Cusco and which I’d passed on the way to and from Pisac.

I managed to get a collectivo and headed first to Tambomachay – it’s a pretty small site but has some very impressive examples of Incan water channels which I was happily admiring when I suddenly felt a very urgent need to find a loo – and not for a pee! I had passed the toilets on the way in but had walked a few hundred meters by this stage so needed to get back pronto!

I barely made it back in time before my guts completely exploded. To add insult to injury there was no loo roll in any of the cubicles – thankfully there was a fellow tourist at the washbasins who saw me frantically checking each cubicle before going in, deduced I needed loo roll and whipped out a roll from her handbag, unraveling a massive wad to hand to me. I am eternally grateful to her – and will never leave the hotel room without loo roll again!

Feeling better now, and assuming it was just a one-off event caused by the salad and beetroot juice, I headed across the road to the other site, Puca Pucara, and spent a relaxing half hour wandering around admiring the impressive stone block work and the beautiful surrounding mountains.

Afterwards I caught a local bus (which cost me 2 soles – roughly 23 pence) back to Cusco and headed back to the hotel – thinking by this stage that I’d best get on with booking a few more nights at the hotel and getting the various day trips booked. But then my guts exploded yet again! And I still was feeling decidedly below par. Suddenly I wasn’t sure if even day trips to the higher altitudes involved, would be a good idea. I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt this morning, before booking anything.

This morning, still feeling ill, though thankfully having had no further bathroom incidents, I opted to change my flight rather than booking any further accommodation in Cusco (amazingly it only cost me £15 to change the flight). I also, sadly, cancelled the accommodation I had booked in Huaraz, which is at a very similar altitude to Cusco. Whether or not my stomach issues are caused by altitude I simply don’t feel strong enough at this stage to relish more hiking at the high altitudes around Huaraz. And I had always had in mind that the Huaraz portion of the itinerary was dependent on how I got on in Cusco – so the accommodation I had booked was, thankfully, fully refundable. I am now flying to Lima tomorrow (Saturday) then on to Buenos Aires on Sunday. Now need to figure out what to do with almost 3 extra weeks in Argentina!

As for the trip to Moray and Maras, despite feeling fairly queasy, that was great. We went, first, to a textile outlet in Chinchero where a lady gave a fascinating demonstration of how they use natural materials to clean and dye wool – she showed us a type of plant root that, when grated into water and mixed, produces perfect soap suds which are first used to clean the wool. She then showed us the different plants they use to produce different colours – and a tiny parasite that grows on cactus leaves, which, when crushed, produces bright red dye – and how adding a tiny bit of lemon juice to this then changes the colour to a bright orange.

From there we went to Moray which is a site that the Incas used to grow crops on terraces, planting different crops at different heights based on whether they needed to be grown at warmer or cooler temperatures.

And from there on to the salt mines at Maras, which are absolutely spectacular. I had seen photos of them and not been overly excited about seeing them in person, but the photos I’d seen had been taken close up so hadn’t captured the surrounding scenery. It’s the contrast between the white of the mines and the colours of the surrounding mountains that I found so striking – as well as the way water is channeled through the area to produce the different-coloured salts. Definitely worth the visit!